Nervous times for Mexico in WC qualifying

The bottom two teams in CONCACAF qualifying for soccer’s 2014 World Cup play Tuesday night on a bumpy field at a venerable Caribbean stadium affectionately known as “The Office.”

One is Jamaica, which has qualified for exactly one World Cup in the island nation’s history, in 1998 in France, where it lost its first two games by a combined 8-1 and was summarily eliminated.

The other is Mexico, which is one of only three nations (Brazil and Germany are the others) to advance past the first round in each of the last five World Cups and which many rated a dark horse next June in Brazil.

It’s still early – CONCACAF qualifying stretches through October and everybody still has seven games left – but if Mexico doesn’t radically reverse its 2013 form over the next eight days, an already taut nation will snap. Put another way: El Tri has some work to do at The Office.

On paper, you’d rate this Mexico’s easiest road game in the 10-game CONCACAF hexagonal, the six-team group from which the top three advance to Brazil and the fourth-place finisher faces New Zealand for one final spot. The Reggae Boyz are in last place, with two points and one goal in three games.

But one of those points was a 0-0 tie at Estadio Azteca in February that El Tri was fortunate not to lose. And little this year has suggested the result was some sort of celestial aberration that soccer is occasionally capable of conjuring. Mexico has played six games in 2013 and tied all six, including 0-0 against the United States at Estadio Azteca after outshooting the Yanks 17-1 and 2-2 at Honduras after leading 2-0 with 15 minutes to go. If qualifying ended today, Mexico would be out.

The Mexican federation bosses, incredibly, have held their nerve and not done what they’d normally do, which is fire the coach and incinerate the chemistry lab. Still, Jose Manuel “Chepo” de la Torre’s leash is a mere eight days’ long.

After the Reggae Boyz in Kingston, there’s another tricky road game at first-place Panama on Friday followed by a June 11 home date against Costa Rica – responsible for El Tri’s only home loss in World Cup qualifying history, a 2-1 decision at Estadio Azteca in 2001. The compact qualifying stretch is a function of moving forward the Jamaica game, originally scheduled for June 18, because Mexico opens the FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil two days earlier.

“There’s a lot at stake for us,” midfielder Angel Reyna told FIFA.com. “The team is prepared for what’s coming up and we’re in the right frame of mind to overcome any situations.”

A sliver of hope was provided Friday, when Mexico managed a 2-2 tie against Nigeria in a tune-up in Houston despite playing most of the game with 10 men. Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez scored both goals, and de la Torre’s decision to return 33-year-old Carlos Salcido to left back and 34-year-old Gerardo Torrado to defensive mid appeared to settle the squad.